Canadians and Their Money

Among the existing Government of Canada initiatives in this area that can beexpanded or built upon are Fraud Awareness Month (held each March), the FederalElder Abuse Initiative (administered by Human Resources and Skills DevelopmentCanada), and the work of the Competition Bureau in collaborating with federal,provincial, private sector and non-profit sector organizations involved in financialfraud issues. The goals should be to:“Many older adults’ social isolation,trusting nature and possessionof assets render them especiallyvulnerable to the various typesof financial abuse. Examples offinancial abuse include the misuseof funds or property; theft;exploitation or scams; abuseof power of attorney or jointaccounts; and fraud or forgeryof documents.”– Canadian Centre for Elder Law• Assist consumers in understanding their rights and the potentialrisks of financial products and services;• Support financial industry representatives in receiving trainingand professional certification around fraud awareness andprevention; and• Assist elderly Canadians, their families or guardians inunderstanding financial fraud.A “Scam Alert,” similar to Amber Alerts for missing children, couldbe a useful means of letting the public know about high-profilefinancial scams; at the same time, these alerts could highlight common “red flags”to watch out for, and provide general tips on detecting fraudulent schemes. Thisshould include clear links to registries of known fraudulent schemes and individualson the proposed single source website (see Recommendation 18).In striving to protect susceptible Canadians through intensified consumer educationefforts, this recommendation is closely linked to other measures advocated in thisreport, including a centralized website and financial literacy programming in theschool system, all of which should include key messaging on fraud prevention.Recommendation 20The Task Force recommends that organizations involved in financial fraud preventionand education, from securities commissions to financial institutions, intensify their effortsto raise fraud awareness among the most vulnerable Canadians. In particular, theGovernment of Canada should strengthen its existing programs related to financial fraudawareness and prevention (e.g., Fraud Awareness Month, the Federal Elder AbuseInitiative) and explore other opportunities to heighten Canadians’ awareness, includingthrough further collaboration with stakeholders.66TASK FORCE ON FINANCIAL LITERACY – IV. Delivery and Promotion